Thank God for Good Teachers Part 1

You know, I started to write one of those “5 things you don’t know about me” posts, and I managed to drift off into another thought all together…so I’m just going to go with it.

Thinking about things from my days in school, I was reminded of just how lucky I was to have the amazing teachers that I did…and if not for them, I don’t think I would be doing what I’m doing today. I don’t think I would be the person that I am today, and for that I will be forever endebted to them.

In Junior High I was lucky enough to get into Mr. Forrester’s History class. The man had a passion about history that made it much more entertaining than it had ever been to me before (and that stuck with me, I love the History Channel, history books, and history in general). He made history really exciting to learn about…but it wasn’t just world history or US history that he taught me.

At that same age, I also got into comic books…and Mr. Forrester was into comic books too. The first comic book I ever purchased on my own as Spawn #1. I started comics in the era of the rockstar artists, the computer coloring, the high quality paper, the loose morals, and the low quality story. If I’d just seen the Image books of the time, and nothing else, I don’t know if I would have stayed with comics as I got older…but Mr. Forrester was a comic book historian as well…and he showed me everything from the early days of comics. The early DC stuff mostly, where I learned about the Crisis on the Infinite Earths, the days of the Earth-2s, 3s, Primes, and more…all the way back to the original Green Lantern and Flash…and ultimately, the beginning of Superhero comics with Superman himself.

This was important for several reasons.

1) He showed me where comics had been, and introduced me to a history and legacy that I still love to learn about to this day.

2) He was an adult…and he liked comics, and he liked cartoons. He showed me as a kid that it was completely fine to be an adult and love comics and cartoons. I have never felt the need to “grow up” like so many other people do. I have never felt like I was being a “kid” because I was into these things…and now as an adult I play with my 3 year old with Voltron toys, Ninja Turtles, and Barbie dolls…just like the other kids, and that lets us have a special relatioinship that lots of other parents don’t have.

He also treated me like an adult, even though I wasn’t. That’s something that has always stuck with me, and something that I apply to raising my own kids. I treat my little girl like she’s an equal (to a point) and I think it has helped her be as advanced as she is.

It turned out when I was in the 8th grade, Mr. Forrester moved up to being an 8th grade History teacher…so I was lucky enough to have him twice. I truely think that if I hadn’t been in his class, and he and his wife hadn’t been my friends, that I wouldn’t be the person that I am today. My experiences with them are only one of the many things that have helped shape who I am as an adult, but it’s an invaluable piece that I’m grateful to have.

I struck gold a second time with History class in high school. A teacher of mine named Mr. May was also a huge comics fan (I don’t know what it was with history teachers and comics in my town…must have been something in the water), and was, and still is, a good friend. He showed me some different and interesting ways to learn in class…and he was also my friend, even going so far as to pick my comics up for me at the local comic store (which was 40 miles away) and helping to feed my comics habit. I have managed to turn my comics hobby into a career with Forevergeek.com – so I am eternally grateful to Mr. May for continuing to show me that being an adult, and loving comics was ok.

I don’t want to make this post too long…and I have more teachers to write about…so I’ll break this one into two parts…next time…the English Teachers…